This invention concerns connectors for subsea flowlines or jumpers used in oil and gas production.
Flowlines are used to interconnect pieces of subsea oilfield equipment for fluid communication. They generally take the form of somewhat flexible armoured hoses or pipes, provided with subsea matable connectors at either end. Typically, they are installed by being lowered into place from a pipe laying vessel, with the final positioning and makeup of the end connectors done by divers or by an ROV. Short diver or ROV installable hoses and pipes used to interconnect adjacent pieces of subsea equipment are known as jumpers. Several individual conduits may be bundled together in parallel to form a single flowline.
Examples of subsea equipment that may be interconnected using flowlines or jumpers include subsea Christmas trees, manifolds and flow control or processing equipment located on the seabed, such as chokes, gas/water separators, pumps and gas liquification plant.
Where there are several different pieces of equipment to be interconnected, installation of the necessary jumpers and flowlines can be time consuming. An end of each flowline is generally lowered vertically to the seabed from a pipe laying vessel, and the flowline is then laid out horizontally between the points to be interconnected. The flowline ends must then be retrieved from the seabed bed by diver or ROV and the end connectors aligned with the subsea equipment for make-up of the required fluid tight connections.
A known type of flowline has a first part mounted to a piece of subsea equipment, such as a wellhead, and a mating second part fitted to the end of a flowline. In use the second part is lowered towards the sea bed and is stabbed from above into the first. A pivot arrangement then guides the second part and attached flowline so as to hinge over into a generally horizontal position, in which the flowline may be laid away along the sea bed, and in which the connector first and second mating parts are axially aligned for make-up of a fluid-tight connection between them. A similar connection technique, but using a separate, hinged flowline connection tool, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,753.
The present invention provides a flowline connector having a first portion for mounting on a first piece of subsea equipment and a second portion for attachment to a flowline end, the first and second portions including respective guides interengageable by lowering the second connector portion into or onto the first connector portion, the second connector portion having a subsea flow processing or flow control equipment package for connection to the first piece of subsea equipment, whereby the flowline may be used to support and lower the equipment package into position during connection to the first piece of subsea equipment. In this way the number of subsea connections to be made is reduced, and the equipment package does not have to be separately supported on wireline, drill pipe or the like.
The invention correspondingly provides a method of connecting a subsea equipment package to a first piece of subsea equipment, comprising the steps of:
mounting a first flowline connector portion on the first piece of subsea equipment;
attaching to a flowline end a second flowline connector portion comprising the subsea equipment package;
supporting the second connector portion on the flowline and lowering the flowline end and second connector portion towards the first connector portion; and
interengaging respective guides on the first and second connector portions.
The flowline connector of the invention thus provides a simple and convenient way of installing a subsea equipment package that must be connected to and/or mounted on further equipment located on the seabed.
The guides may allow pivoting of the second connector portion relative to the first, to bring the flowline from a generally vertical position to a generally horizontal position and to bring the first and second connector portions into axial alignment for make-up of a fluid tight connection therebetween.
The package may have Christmas tree having for connection to a subsea wellhead, although the invention is of more general applicability. For example, the equipment package can be used to perform production fluid processing functions such as gas liquification or fluid separation, normally carried out further down the production flow stream. It may also having pumps or control and monitoring equipment, such as electrical and/or hydraulic control modules for connection to downhole service lines. The subsea equipment package can be mounted upon or connected to a manifold or other subsea structure besides a wellhead. The connector portions may constitute parts of a hub connector, with the flowline having a plurality of parallel conduits.
For installation, the flowline and second connector may simply be lowered from a pipe laying vessel to bring the guides into engagement (if necessary with ROV or diver assistance). The vessel can then begin laying the flowline in the required direction along the seabed. As the flowline comes to rest on the seabed, the guides preferably allow the second connector portion to pivot on the first, bringing the connector portions into axial alignment. The required fluid tight connection between the connector portions can then be made up, e.g. by relatively straightforward ROV or diver manipulation, or automatically in the case of hydraulically actuated connectors.